best mm/mc preamp under $200 and best mc cartridge under $500 for an SME 3009 S2 arm ?


I guess the title says it all.  The arm is on a Linn Sondek LP12.

- Has anyone had any ACTUAL experience with a moving coil cartridge on an SME S2 arm, which is very light and hence needs a hi compliance cartridge ?  $500 is the max I want to spend.  Bass slam & needing extra treble to the point of being too bright  is the most important factor to me.  At my age, my ears are not what they used to be :-)

- Also, can anyone suggest an under $200 mc/mm simple preamp ?

Thanks

128x128cakyol

Showing 4 responses by chakster

You must be kidding? 
$200 for mm/mc preamp??? 

It's not enough even for simple MC step up stansformer if the sound quality is what you're looking for. 

I think even for used MM/MC phono stage $400-500 is minimum.

But $500 is fine for a great cartridge, but it must me MM or MI if you want better for less money. If yoy need high compliance look for Grace F9, Stanton 881, Pickering 3000, ADC TRX just to name a few. 

There are many recommendations in the different threads, people ask same questions. 




Hmm.. That does not look bad to me at about $130, especially with a PASSIVE RIAA equalizer

You can judge only when you will make a comparison by yourself in your system with your cartridges. Even if someone will try to make it yourself (DIY) the cost of the high quality parts is more than $200 anyway.

The cheapest phono preamp i've been using for a long time was Grado PH-1 (can be find used for $350 max), i had two and modified them for a friend by replacing stock resistors with the best Naked Foil 100k ohms Vishay audio resistors. Pair of Vishay Naked Foil resistors cost me about $60 with shipping. People usually upgrade caps and it's also not cheap when it comes to the best caps. Even those RCA (mother) plugs on the back of any phono stage are not cheap when they are good. 

So i have no idea how a good phono stage can cost $130 new ?
@tablejockey 

The subject is LOW BUDGET + performance.


yeah, with pocket size bluetooth speakers 


Bass slam & needing extra treble to the point of being too bright is the most important factor to me.



I’m still not sure how you can get these from a $130-200 phono stage?

The bass is the most problematic for all cheap phono stages, not only this, but it’s an illusion that phonostage can be good at this price point.

Also if you want a extra treble then you have to definitely load your cartridge at 100k Ohm (not at 47k Ohm).

As we can see the RCA on Schiit Mani are the cheapest as all the parts, i’m sure, otherwise it’s simply impossible to make a phono stage, a pair of Vishay 100k restistors cost $40-60 alone.

In my opinion you can buy much better phono stage used for $400

SoundSmith selling preamps too:
https://www.sound-smith.com/phono-preamps